William j



(No Model.)

W. J. SANKEY.

SGAPFOLD.

No. 472,514. Patented Apr. 5, 1892'.

D Mme/sacs ya: man PETERS n61, mowumu msnmm'un n. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. SANKEY, OF DES MOINES, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO S.

OF SAME PLACE.

o. swEET,

SCAFFOLD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,514, dated April 5, 1892.

Application filed March 10, 1890. Renewed Febmary ZO, 1892- Serial No. 422,205. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM J. SANKEY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Des Moines,in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented an Improved Scaffold for Builders, of which the following is a specification.

My object is to facilitate the labor of setting up and taking down and moving about a scaffold, and also to facilitate the raising and lowering of the floor or platform thereof, as required, to adjust the scaffold to support persons at different elevations at different times at the same place.

My invention consists in the construction of brackets and tripods and their arrangem out and combination with posts, putlogs, and floor-boards, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in 'the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective View of abracket cast complete in one piece. Fig. 2 is a crosssectional view of the scaffold in position as required for practical use.

In my metal bracket, A represents a loop that is adapted to slip over the top of a post and to slide up and down thereon and to ex- .t'end diagonally acf'oss the post. The sides A of the loop are preferably flat, and the outer cross-bar A that connects the sides, forms an angle relative to the sides A and is'adapted to enter a notch of corresponding size and shape formed in the face of a post, so that when a putlog is placed in the right-angled arm of the bracket the bracket and putlog will be jointly clamped fast to the post in such a manner that they can be lifted and adj usted,raised, or lowered, or detached and the putlog placed on and off the bracket by vertical movements. The form of the complete bracket, it is obvious, allows the fiat face of a four-sided putlog to come in contact in its entire width with the entire width of the flat face of the post without obstructing the vertical movement of the putlog, as required, to facilitate the handling of the putlog and setting up, adjusting, and taking down the complete scaffold.

B is an L-shaped integral arm on the end of the loop, that will be in a right-angled position on a post and adapted to support afourby means of screws when it is desired to thus reinforce the wood and to avoid cutting notches in the wood.

C isa tripod cast complete in one piece, and its legs 0 project radially downward and outward some distance below the body or hub and are made hollow, so that wooden legs 0 can be readily detachably connected therewith to elevate it and to enlarge the base of a complete post. Itis therefore obvious that this metal tripod having tubular legs is adapted to be used with or without wooden legs, as required, to support a post at different elevations at different times and therefore greatly advantageous in adapting the complete invention to support persons and materials at different heights at different times and places.

To form a scaffold, I place four or more posts in the position to be occupied and slip the loop A of a bracket down over the top of each post and suspend the bracket by allowing the cross-bar A of the loop to rest in one of the steps in the face of the post. I next place putlogs D in the brackets to clasp and bind the brackets and posts together, as shown, and then place floor-boards H across the two parallel putlogs, or first place cross-pieces J on top of the putlogs, as shown in Fig. 2.

To raise or lower the floor, Iplace my shoulder under a putlog near a post and lift the putlog and floor sufficiently to allow me to move the bracket on the post in the direction desired and to suspend it again, so that when I relax the lifting force applied to the putlog it will again descend and rest upon the bracket. Each corner of the scaffold can be thus readily adjusted, as required, to level the floor to any point of elevation desired.

To move the scaffold about, the parts can all be readily detached and handled separately, so that there will be no diificulty in passing it from one room to another in a building to support lasterers, painters, and paperhangers, for which mechanical professions the invention is specially adapted.

I11 the cast-metal brackets shown in Fig. 1 the cross-bar A at the free end of the loop A is inclined, or, in other Words, the end portion that connects the two parallel sides A of the loop forms an acute angle with the top edges of these sides, so that the inside face of the bar A will lie flat against the inclined face of the notch or step in the post, as required, to be securely suspended on the post and to bind aputlog to the post at any point of elevation desired, so that neither bracket or putlog will have any lateral play, but adapted to be raised or lowered on the post.

I claim as my invention- 1. An improved scaffold-bracket consisting of an oblong metal loop com posed of parallel sides connected at theirouterends by a crosspicce that is adapted to engage notches in the face of a post and an integral right-angled arm projecting at an angle from the inner ends of said side pieces, and said inner end or cross-piece of said arm serving to connect the inner ends of said side pieces for the purpose of producing a closed loop and complete bracket that is adapted to engage the faces of a four-sided post to admit a four-sided putlog to be placed on and elf the bracket by vert-icalmotionsand to allow the fullwidth of the face of the putlog to engage the full width of the face of the post and to clamp the putlog to the post, in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

2. A scaifold-standard consisting of a metal tripod having tubular legs, Wooden legs adapted to support the metal tripod in an elevated position, a notched post adj ustably connected With the hub of the metal tripod, and a bracket having a loop adapted to slide on the post and to engage the notches in the post and an integral elbow-shaped right-angled arm adapted to admit a four-sided putlog, in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

3. An improved adjustable scaffold consisting of metal tripods having central openings to admit posts and tubular legs to admit interchangeable Wooden legs, posts adapted to enter the metal tripods, brackets consisting of loops adapted to slide on the posts and to engage notches in the posts and elbovwshaped or righoangled arms adapted to admit foursided pntlogs and to clamp them to the posts, four-sided putlogs, and floor-boards, to operate in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

WILLIAM J. SANKEY.

Witnesses:

S. 0. SWEET, THOMAS G. Oawro. 

